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History underneath history: Italy’s underground secrets

Basilica of Superga's stairway leading to the the final resting place of many Savoia kings and queens, including Carlo Alberto, the father of the first king of Italy and promulgator of the first modern Constitution of the country (Dreamstime)

When I still lived abroad, I once visited my brother in Rome with two Irish friends, who were astonished by the fact the city only had two underground lines (it’s three today). “Well, every time they begin digging, something archaeologically valuable comes out of the ground!” - my brother would cheerfully explain.

While that may not be the sole reason behind our capital’s paucity of underground transportation, it certainly points at a well established reality of Rome and, in truth, of many areas of Italy, country where millennial history means we, quite literally, live on top of the cities of a bunch of centuries ago.

Let us take a little walk underground to discover what the cities of Rome, Turin and Naples hide from view and to learn what these cities’ invisible history can teach us.

Rome and the Vatican Necropolis
Going to Rome is basically synonym with visiting the Vatican: the tiny citadel and its square, Saint Peter’s basilica, the museums. Yet, there is a whole world under the grounds of the Vatican hill, a world well preserved enough to be viewable and open to the public. Sure, visits have to be guided and only very few people at a time can participate, yet this is a corner of Rome that shouldn’t be overlooked, as the archaeological, historical and, indeed, religious importance of the area is immense.

The Vatican Necropolis began being used during the times of Augustus, first Emperor of the Empire

You see, in Roman times the mons Vaticanus was a peripheral area of the city, home to a circus, built under the rule of Caligula, where many a Christian lost their lives during the persecutions. The most notable of them all was Saint Peter, who here was crucified, then buried in a nearby necropolis in use since the times of Rome’s first Emperor, Augustus. This necropolis was then used by Christians for more than three centuries as a place of burial for their own death. This is the very necropolis that, today, we can still visit under Saint Peter’s Basilica, which was erected by will of Constantine the Great on the place where, so we are told, Peter was buried.

The necropolis laid dormant and forgotten for a enormous amount of years, until the fourth and the fifth decade of the past century, when archaeological excavations brought once again to light ancient Rome’s City of the Dead. Along its alleys and passageways mausoleums, underground sepulchres and the niche where the remains of Saint Peters were moved. Closer to the surface, of course, the better known - an more easily accessible - Grotte Vaticane, resting place of popes and kings.

Torino sotterranea
Turin is a city that revels in mystery, so the fact it has some underground secret doesn’t surprise. In fact, underground Turin is so well known, that tours are organized all year round to visit its tunnels and learn about their history. Indeed, the whole of its city centre’s underground is ran through by a 14 km long system of fortified galleries and tunnels largely excavated in the early 18th century, when Turin was under French siege: these are the same tunnels where Pietro Micca, on of Italy’s most heroic figures, sacrificed himself by exploding a load of dynamite to stop the French from entering the city. And it is a museum dedicated to him that works also as an entrance to the tunnels.

Basilica of Superga's stairway leading to the the final resting place of many Savoia kings and queens, including Carlo Alberto, the father of the first king of Italy and promulgator of the first modern Constitution of the country (Dreamstime)

Viewable are also the many, more than 40, underground bunkers created during the last war to protect the Turinese from allied bombings. Just as in Rome and Saint Peter’s, Turin churches, too, are a portal onto many an underground secret. A short drive away from the city centre, up high on one of the hills surrounding it, is the Basilica of Superga, beautiful example of Piedmontese baroque architecture, erected in honor of the Virgin Mary after the victory of the Savoias on the French - yes, the same war as Pietro Micca’s. Its crypts are the final resting place of many Savoia kings and queens, including Carlo Alberto, the father of the first king of Italy and promulgator of the first modern Constitution of the country (although, at the time, he was monarch only of the Kingdom of Sardinia).

Naples and the Burbons’ tunnels
Let’s move south, to one of Italy’s own crown jewels, Naples. On the 18th of February 1583 king Ferdinand II Bourbon signed a decree for the construction of an underground tunnel network to connect the Royal Palace to Piazza Vittoria. His aim wsa that of creating a safe escape for himself and his family in case of danger. The Bourbon tunnels, however, soon fell in disrepair: the Spanish family was chased from the throne, the Kingdom of Two Sicilies fell and an aqueduct to supply the city of drinking water was built just across the tunnels themselves. Visiting them, let alone using them, became almost impossible. This until the beginning of the Second World War, when the necessity to find safe areas for citizens to escape bombings brought the tunnels back to notoriety. After the war, and up to the 1970s, the Borubons’ tunnels were used as the city’s judicial deposit, where all materials and objects seized by the police were kept.

The Bourbons tunnels

The tunnels came back to life three years ago, when it was decided to proceed with a series of restoration works and open them to the public: the Bourbons’ underground network is not only relevant historically in itself, but also because it interconnects, in parts of its path, with the 17th century aqueduct created by Carmignano. Today, the tunnels can be visited by virtually everyone, thanks to the creation of a series of dedicated itineraries, from the most challenging, perfect for those with a penchant for speleology and long walks, to those accessible by children and people with disabilities.

The Bourbons tunnels are today open to the public after decades of abandon and neglect

If you think these are the only underground secrets the country keeps, think again: Milan, Trieste, Orvieto all have underground itineraries. Notorious are the galleries underneath Matera and Molfetta, not to forget, in Rome again, the underground secrets of Villa Torlonia. Indeed, there is, almost, a brand-new Italy to discover under the ground of its most magnificent cities.